Tuitama growing as a quarterback

BERKELEY - His team was down by 25 points in the first quarter and Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama started the next drive by dropping back and hitting his running back for a 1-yard gain.

Lori Gilbert

BERKELEY - His team was down by 25 points in the first quarter and Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama started the next drive by dropping back and hitting his running back for a 1-yard gain.

His next short pass was turned into 10 yards, the following into 14.

Yep, the same Tuitama who warmed up for his games at St. Mary's High School with easy 70-yard passes on the school's softball field, answered Cal's early onslaught by dinking and dunking his way up and down the Memorial Stadium field.

The plays kept the Wildcats moving, and momentarily put a fear in sixth-ranked Cal, but couldn't keep the Bears from dominating in Saturday's 45-27 Pac 10 victory.

"They were doing a good job of keeping some stuff away from us downfield," Tuitama said. "I think they saw the stuff from last week against New Mexico when we had taken a lot of shots."

In that affair - a 29-27 loss - Tuitama threw for a career-high 446 yards with nine passes going more than 20 yards.

He never aired it out on Saturday, with the biggest pass play going for 29 yards. Still, he set two Arizona records with 42 completions and 62 attempts.

He was oblivious to the marks until Arizona reporters told him of them.

"That doesn't matter to me," he said. "I'd much rather have a W."

In that way, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound Tuitama has not changed.

His passing accuracy and personal glory never has meant as much to him as his team. He still thanks his linemen after touchdowns and interrupts sideline congratulations from teammates to shake the hands of the PAT squad as it comes off the field.

"I think Willie plays more with his heart than by being a vocal person," junior wide receiver Mike Thomas said. "He let's his play speak for him."

Tuitama plays the way you'd expect a junior to play who spent all but five games of his freshman season as a redshirt and was limited last year by blows to the head in three different games, and then switched from a pro-set, two-back offense to a spread offense this season under first-year offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes.

He's commanding with his size and mobility, but is still learning to check down receivers. He moves his team, but then can't always finish drives with touchdowns.

Of course, Cal's defense had a lot to do with that. It sacked him three times, knocking the ball out once for a Bears touchdown, and intercepted him twice.

He also was hurt by an ineffective defense that put him in a 28-3 hole after 15 minutes.

Tuitama, though, kept battling.

Down 31-10 at halftime, he opened the second half with a short pass over the middle to wide-open Thomas, who bobbed and weaved away from oncoming defenders and raced to the end zone for a 65-yard touchdown.

Arizona's best offensive play of the game was called back by a personal foul on lineman Peter Graniello, who put his hands on an opponents face mask. Three plays later, receiver Chris Jennings fumbled the ball after a catch, Cal jumped on it to set up a touchdown.

Just your basic 14-point swing to open the second half.

"That would have been big for us," Tuitama said. "It would have made a lot of things easier for us, gotten guys on the sideline going."

Instead, Tuitama got the Wildcats going.

He put together a drive of short passes before taking the ball in from the 1 himself. He threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Thomas to end another drive, and when Jason Bonzio kicked a 32-yard field goal and the lead was cut to 38-27 with 13:01 to play, the crowd of 56,021 was all but silenced.

Cal is just too good offensively to be shut down for an entire half, though. The Bears stormed back with a sustained drive that resulted in a touchdown that put the game out of reach with 8:53 to play.

Even the Tuitama who can air the ball out without breaking a sweat couldn't have come up with three scoring drives.

In the loss, he took steps forward, though.

He demonstrated patience and his ability to use skills other than that massive right arm. He looked comfortable as his line mostly gave him time to work. He didn't force throws.

Tuitama is very much the college quarterback he was expected to be when he dominated at the high school level.

When Arizona puts its entire game together, it will be much more noticeable.